His first stint as the Chief Minister began in September 2001 when Jayalalithaa was barred from holding office as Chief Minister by the Supreme Court as she was found guilty in a disproportionate asset case. Although Jayalalithaa had banned Sasikala from meeting the latter's husband, it is obvious that she and Natarajan met every now and then.

August 11: CM Palaniswami said the appointment of Dinakaran as party's deputy general secretary was "not acceptable". OPS is the most popular AIADMK leader among the cadres now.

March 22, 2017: With the bypoll for vacant R K Nagar constituency approaching, both the factions staked claim for the party's "two leaves" symbol. "We are very clear that Mr. Panneerselvam should be the party chief", said an AIADMK veteran, who participated in the marathon meeting on Friday evening.

Chennai: After several failed attempts, the much-awaited merger of the two warring factions of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) was announced on Monday afternoon. But later they both have come to the headquarters and the announcement was subsequently made.

Nash latest MP caught up in dual-citizenship sagaWhat's the problem? How can the court help? The dual citizen MPs will get their first hearing before the High Court next Thursday. The Greens and independents have called for an audit of all parliamentarians, but the major parties are not interested.

Surprisingly, Sasikala's nephew TTV Dinakaran, who both factions want ousted, had demanded a judicial probe into Jayalalithaa's death. "We all will make sure it happens", he said, adding, "We all are children of one mother, and Amma (Jayalalithaa) is that one mother".

The OPS faction had also been pressing for a formula under which EPS could continue as chief minister while Panneerselvam would be named AIADMK general secretary.

February 7: In a dramatic turn of events, interim chief minister Pannerselvam revolted against Sasikala and alleged that he was forced to resign from the post. The faction headed by CM Palaniswami is expected to pass a resolution against AIADMK General Secretary VK Sasikala. One of the major condition for OPS faction for a merger was the expulsion of Sasikala and Dinakaran from the party, an issue which derailed the talks.

Party sources said Sunday that the merger would be formalised on August 21, considered auspicious on account of "Amavasya". He had stepped in before, twice, handpicked by Ms Jayalalithaa when she had to resign over corruption cases. That is why he had directed the senior leaders of the party in Tamil Nadu and had entrusted the responsibility of this work to the party general secretary Muralidhar Rao. The former AIADMK chief's niece, Deepa Jayakumar, has not only questioned Palaniswami's decision of a probe into Amma's death but has also opposed the move to convert her residence into a museum.

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War would be 'horrific' but N. Korea nukes 'unimaginable'
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Mattis, Tillerson: North Korea threat
Pompeo declined to say how long it will be before North Korea could carry out such a nuclear attack on the USA mainland. And that's exactly the policy of the Trump administration. 8/19/2017